Moving About

This weekend had a little bit more physical activity than my baseline. Not only were the regular dog walks happening, we went skating yesterday. Next week we’ll be part of a skate party, so we were practicing up a little. I hadn’t been in a roller rink since I was 7 or 8. I tried to get out there on standard quad skates, and it was a bad scene. After one lap, I turned in those skates for some rollerblades which were much better. We skated for about an hour and a half and I only had one wipeout that was unassisted. The rest were caused by trying to not run over little kids. When it was done we were exhausted and I was a tad bruised.

Today I went swimming at the gym. I’ve built up to where I can do 21 laps without stopping. That’s 1050 yards ,which is approaching 2/3 of a mile. It takes me a really long time to do – close to 35 minutes – but I get it done. It’s amazing to me how quickly my performance deteriorates. I can do the 25 yards of one half of the lap in 27 strokes the first time. By the third lap it takes more like 34 and at the low point it was 45. My main goal is to increase my fitness and cardiovascular health so the quality of my swimming is not my primary concern. I try not to be ridiculous but as long as I’m moving, I’m happy with that.